Hi!

I’m really excited to share something new today: a way for me to give you something cool for sharing Now I Know with some friends. One of the reasons I switched from Mailchimp to beehiiv is because beehiiv makes this super-simple. Here, I’ll show you!

(Uh, if you’re seeing this on my website and not in the email newsletter, it isn’t going to work. Sorry! If you’re a subscriber, check your inbox. If you’re not, consider subscribing?)

See? Easy. For now, the only reward I have set up is a signed copy of one of my books, and it comes with a couple of caveats. First, because I don’t have all that many books to give out, I’m asking you to refer 20 friends to earn that reward. Yes, it’s a lot, but again, I don’t have that many books! And second, I can only send you a book (for now) if you’re in the U.S. or Canada — postage elsewhere makes sending the book prohibitively expensive.

But again, this is all just for now. I’d love your feedback on what else I could offer! In the email version of this post, there’s a poll, and if you vote in it, you’ll have the opportunity to write a comment with more context or more ideas. Or you can just email me and let me know, too.

I’m going to be adding the referral box on the bottom of most emails going forward — no need for you to come back to this email to do it.

Thanks so much! I hope this thing works 😃

The Now I Know Week In Review

Monday: When Milwaukee Went to War Over Bridges: And why it has some crooked ones as a result.

Tuesday: Math and the Missing Planet: How Uranus found Neptune.

Wednesday: Why Did This Rabbit Drive a Car?: I mean, do you need a reason to click this one? A rabbit in a car?

Thursday: Nazca Lines: Ancient artwork, but how did they make it?

And some other things you should check out:

Some long reads (and a podcast episode!) for the weekend:

1. “The Juror Who Found Herself Guilty” (Texas Monthly, 41 minutes, February 2024). The subhead: “She was pressured into convicting a man she believed was innocent—and was haunted by remorse. Three decades later, she did something about it.”
2. “Zoozve” (Radiolab, 42 minute podcast episode, January 2024). I’m not going to tease this one — because the host of this episode, Latif Nassir, did an incredible job teeing it up on Twitter/X. Read that Twitter thread if you want his summary; listen to the episode when you have the time.
3. “How an Obscure Song Became an a Cappella Sensation” (New York Times, 11 minutes, January 2024). That’s a gift link so you should be able to read it even without a subscription. Here’s the subhead: “Few people were aware of the 1994 single “Insomniac” by the rock duo Billy Pilgrim, and it quickly sank into obscurity. But a cappella groups can’t stop singing it. We set out to find an explanation.”

Have a great weekend!

Dan